CHRISTIAN AHUIS CONSULTING
Theme Park Expert since 1997

Not a poem
*1977
*loves red
*wears a hat
*rollercoaster!
*hotels analyst
Always hear both sides of the story!
Christians motto since 1993!
It all started back in 1998, when I was asked to help to develop a dark ride for World EXPO 2000 in Hanover, Germany. Still a student, but passionate about theme parks and roller coasters my first client facts & fiction was sure, I was the right person to support their project.
The ride was one of the most loved attractions at the expo, and it was one of three pavilions, with the highest capacity! Maybe Japan could need some help after their Expo 2020 Dubai experience in that? :-)
With that Expo project it went off - like a roller coaster which is released on the top of the lift hill...
I still studied social sciences at the University Duisburg-Essen, but that project made me hungry for more.
To make it short:
Also in 1998 I was asked to start as an editor for the magazine Kirmes & Park Revue, which I did for about 3 years. My very first interview as an editor was with Mr. von Landsberg-Velen from Germanys biggest Holiday Resort Schloss Dankern. I could not have dreamed, that I will work for Schloss Dankern only 9 years later.
Also in 1998 I partnered up with Frank Hinrichs as Leisure Consulting - my first official company.
We implemented in cooperation with Net-Up the very first online ticket system for amusement parks at least in Europe - we still believe world wide and no one has proven us wrong. It was installed at with Warner Bros. Movie World Germany, which is today known as Movie Park Germany.
Being the first with something we believed in was not always a good business case: That days Europa Park was not convinced, that the website Frank did for Warner Bros. Movie World and Six Flags Europe was something they should invest money in as well.
Also our approach around 2000 to sell waterless urinals was not listened to from any amusement park we talked to. Nowadays online tickets, websites and also waterless urinals are absolut common world wide.
Together with facts & fiction and Norbert Altenhöner I started the first web based news website about theme parks around 1999. Erlebniswelten.de was bilingual and we had the most important owners of theme parks and manufacturers as our readers.
2000 marked the most memorable year for my work ever since: Beside the successful Expo 2000 ride opening, I was asked by Sascha Budde, Michael Badelt and Jens Scheberg to join their project named European Coaster Video. The idea was to produce high quality videos about the most important roller coasters in Europe and sell that as a VHS - and later DVD - world wide. My job was to convince the park owners about the video production and get the approval for filming the rides during opening hours.Please note: GoPros and YouTube were unknown that days and so our biggest challenge was to mount a professional camera safely on all these different coaster trains!
The final product was named European Coaster Thrills and was a Hugh success - and also the starting point for that what I still do today with movemotions production:
World wide professional video and photo productions for all kind of leisure destinations, rides, spas, resorts, roller coaster and more.
At the end of 2000 Frank and I were in charge of selling the dark ride of the Expo to someone. There was a deadline coming when everything needed to be gone on the Expo area.
We sold the ride to Gottlieb Löffelhardt, the owner of Phantasialand and Mirabilandia in that days within weeks.
2001 Petra Probst wanted to found her own magazine about the amusement industry and asked me, if I want to be in the team from the very first day. So Euro Amusement Professional was a big part of my work days until 2015 and I traveled even more around the world and visited many trade shows, conferences and association meetings every year.
In 2002 Oscar Bruch Jr. asked me to support his newly opened Centro.PARK amusement park in Oberhausen, which I did for the upcoming 5 years.
2007 I started to work with Friedhelm von Landsberg-Velen, the son and owner of Schloss Dankern, Germany biggest holiday, resort as a spokes person.
When Oscar Bruch 2011 ended his lease contract for the park, I was asked to find a new operator for the park by the owner of Centro Oberhausen. I convinced Merlin Entertainments to take over the park and so they also placed Legoland Discovery Center on a small part of the former amusement park.
As a consequence of the growing demand of ride and attractions videos, which came in from roller coaster suppliers since our release of the DVD European Coaster Thrills, movemotions was founded in 2012: A professional media agency just for amusement parks, water parks and suppliers of rides and attractions all over the world.
Until today we are producing professional emotional videos for many of the leading ride and attraction manufacturers as well as for theme and water parks all over the world.
Browsing through our long list of references I still can't believe this all started back in 2000 with four guys believing in the idea of selling a VHS about Europes best roller coasters.
By the way: The first company paying us to produce a video about their newest coaster is still our client. Thank you Vekoma Rides for trusting us now for so many years!
My experience with so many different rides and roller coasters all around the world was also the reason for my now already six years of work and support for Karls - the most unusual theme park operator world wide.
Implementing the very first big ride for one of Karls five theme parks started in 2016 as a project manager for the coaster which is known as K2.
Today I am brand ambassador for Karls and working on some secret future developments of this quickly growing company of Robert Dahl.
Unibail Rodamco Westfield, Waterland Private Equity Investments and some other clients I can not talk about kept me busy even during the Covid-19 years.
All clients were served with passion, dedication and knowledge. And if you want to work with me, I am happy to tell our story here as well!